Hello jandc hope you are doing ok. I wanted to temporarily interrupt the bowls conversation just to ask if your surgery has a social prescriber. You may not need it but as you mentioned you are housebound it is something you may wish to investigate at some point. A social prescriber has extensive contacts and will come to see you and link you to various people/organisations etc that may be able to help broaden your links with the world outside your home. Also, you could try searching online with something like social contact for the housebound - you will be amazed at what you can find where you can see and talk with and generally join in with all sorts of things. Congratulations on your success at online shopping - I find the drivers excellent and will always help.
Re the bowling. My friend’s husband started bowling three years ago and loves it but I couldn’t believe how expensive it was to get started with all the kit he needed and from specialist shops to comply with all the rules and to actually be able to play. I’m with your grandson mary1947, wearing something practical is one thing being told how to dress is quite another - and I am a good few years older than he is lol.
Tot
Thanks tot for that helpful information. We have always avoided online, but needs must. Its a learning curve. Our surgery has been very helpful inrecent weeks( although their understanding of all things parkinsons is ver very limited. Never played bowls, always thought it looked quite a relaxing pursuit!
Morning Tot … Got to pull you up on how expensive indoor bowls is …
Yearly membership is £120.
£4.40p for a 2 hour game.
£5 to rent a locker for a year.
Free parking.
If you have never played you get free lessons, free loan of flat soled shoes. The club has bowls you can use free of charge.
Wear any grey trousers & any white shirt with collar.
Second hand bowls [set of 4] can easily be bought for £50-£60.
When I could play golf clearly I could not walk the course. So I had to rent a golf cart which is £25 a round. Membership is £1,600 a year.
Hello steve2
I don’t claim to know a great deal about bowels and I accept that playing is not the most expensive sport in the world and that you can get second hand bowels and wear clothing that ‘will do.’ However my friend’s husband when he had been playing for a few weeks with borrowed bowels etc and found he enjoyed it, wanted his own equipment as I think most would including bowels and clothing. That initial outlay was substantial and there is only one supplier who is relatively close to where they live to buy what they needed.
I also think that to attract younger people the views on acceptable clothing do need to change and I was pleased to read this when checking my facts
However what this document says and what I see of bowls being played, even when it is just general play and not a competiton or tournament when I accept you need to look like a team, there is still quite a strong adherance to the tradtional dress code and some strong voices that won’t accept anything less. History and tradition have their place in any sport but if you are truly wanting to change how your sport is portrayed, I think there is a long way to go. It’s no different really to how Parkinson’s has reinvented itself by dropping the disease bit - which makes it sound like some horrendouse contagious illness - it is now known more generally as just Parkinson’s which has done much to raise the profile of the conditon - although I accept that too still has a long way to go.
I wasn’t particularly being critical of the sport itself which I know gives you much, just making a general observation from what I see and know and to be frank what I think will be the same as many. If you are serious about promoting the sport as a viable choice and something that more could benefit from if they gave it a chance, it is people like me that you need to convince.
Good luck with the bowels and hope your appt with the urologist goes well.
Your occasional sparring partner lol.
Tot
Hello jandc, I am largely self taught on using a computer at home and certainly online but I have discovered I like the process of finding out how to do things and crucially nothing drastic happens if something doesn’t work lol You tube is a great place to learn how to do things and when using the computer generally you can ask it almost anything, even something as simple as how do I get a capital letter and it will give you an answer. So do explore and have a go - I look each year for different ideas for christmas cards and moved some of my photos off the chromebook and put them into photobooks for example and learnt how using YouTube and various apps - but be warned time can fly by if you get absorbed in something, one page will lead to another and it snowballs and you suddenly realise an hour and a half has gone by when you only intended a quick half hour.
Enjoy it
Tot
BOWLING???
you can play bowls most days on private or council greens you can pay a 6 months fee or pay a fee when you play most places will hire shoes and bowls, fee includeds 2 small mats and a jack. If you don’r wish to join a team then you can join on with the casual players, If you want to join a team then you do need to be in grey bottoms / white tops. Allthough some teams have there own code of colour within there tops. Bowling season starts around April till September this is outdoor on flat greens; north uk mostley play crown green this is when you have a hill /lump in the green , You can also play for your county ./ also ladies team / mens team, when the season ends you go and play indoors but the BEST yet is going to play at Skegness in think June , if you win you get a figure of a Jolly Fishman.
I read your post and sense you are an incredibly strong man who has already made changes to accommodate Parkinson’s.
You have a lot going on and it is often at these times Parkinson’s gets worse. stress, anxiety are the enemy and can cause symptoms to multiply, and worsen. I have had times when I couldn’t get out of bed , physically could not move always when Parkinson’s was winning and taking advantage of life’s inevitable challenges. I give myself a holiday, recover and remind myself it’s really is ok to be a bit wobbly, allow someone else to feel the joy of winning in sport and give them the gift of being the best,(occasionally )they deserve it too.
If you are able to allow yourself some time to recover mentally and physically from this experience you will be at your best to take up the challenge again. I know it was difficult for you not being able to play bowls and this has been your main focus but remember the person who drove your car home for you, the person who took you home, your friends and loved ones ,to me this was a good day in many ways as it also served as a reminder people supported and cared for you , this is in my view is a very special gift.
I wish you well and after a break hope you are back playing bowls or at the very least enjoying life (for the moment) as a spectator.
I appreciate that mary1947 and I am very aware that playing is not always something steve2 can do as often as he would like and I do understand how hard it is to give up something, whatever it may be, that gives you so much pleasure. I was thinking more of the way your enthusiasm and love of the sport comes through so strongly in the way you write and how you ‘talk’ about it. I think it is good that it still gives you both a continued interest in the sport which, although is not the same as playing can keep your mind active, give you social opportunities etc or maybe even opportunities to promote the sport if you wanted that. Parkinson’s may have robbed you of your playing but the non motor benefits are important too; as long as you have that Parkinson’s may have won the battle but definitely not the war.
Tot
Good morning everyone … I saw an excellent neurologist [new] on Thursday. I have had my diagnosis altered slightly to Vascular Parkinson’s. He has suggested I reduce my Sinemet from 6 pills a day to 3 pills a day for a week & then stop taking them completely. This is an experiment. I can start taking the pills again if my symptoms worsen. The reason for this is that the Sinemet cause REM sleep, nightmares & insomnia & I do not get on with the Clonazepam & Melatonin I take that are to help but don’t.
Fingers crossed you get some benefit from the changes and that those benefits are of sufficient size that you notice a real difference in the quality of your life, Steve 2.
You’re overdue a bit of good news.
Tot
)they deserve it too.